Chapter Fourteen – Recurring Trend
It had been a month since Kamen became Szayel's lab assistant. I'd poked fun at Rensuta and Itami for having first names that were Japanese and last names that were English. My Japanese had oodles of gaps, so the two had taught me what else I needed and within that month, I was bilingual and teaching everyone else said language. After all, they needed it. And now it was easy to understand Vocaloid music! Ta-da!
Kamen had stopped coming with the other three and came alone this time, and always left around eleven thirty at night, always tired. She'd said that The Gang members can go anywhere but have to be back at camp by midnight and aren't allowed to leave again until nine. Usually she'd pop in right after school got over at three, and on weekends, she was here extra early. She was either committed, 100% to her work, or liked being around Szayel. Infatuation to a science geek seemed unlikely for her though. After all, she personally told me in the month we'd known each other, "I don't like helping out or volunteering much, and I'm a total flunky at science, so I don't really know why I want to help out with this." It seemed odd to me, and a little suspicious.
I burst into the lab when the two were busy. Kamen was leaning over the desk, motioning on Szayel's main touch screen computer to what looked like a data spike. I may not be top-notch in science, but I do know what a line graph is. Szayel nodded and motioned to something else, which she proceeded to write down.
"Guys!" I was excited, because we were going to have a movie night, and it wasn't a horror movie. Finally! Geez, people. I don't want to see guts splattering everywhere, and looking at the organs of a boar lying around and smelling that preservative smell was bringing me back to recent horror movies. Quickly, I finished, "We're watching Step Brothers! Movie night! Let's go!"
Kamen put down her clipboard and followed me out with Szayel trailing behind.
When we all sat down, I ended up close to Nnoitra with Harribel on my other side. Neliel sat in the armchair, drinking tea like usual and watching me fast forward through that legal crap. Grimmjow and Ulquiorra had the second couch closest to that room that…yeah… and, per usual, were hissing empty threats at each other. Why couldn't we all just get along?
According to Szayel, it'd be boring if we did.
Is it just me, or has he been in the story quite a lot more recently?
When Kamen sat down on the third couch, Szayel sat pretty close to her, and her face grew slightly red.
Kamen… I sent to her. Yes, I can perform more mind tricks than you think.
"Mia, get out of my head." Kamen replied, not flicking her gaze from the movie even one time.
I just want to know something. What is going on?
"A movie is playing, silly one!" Great, the chick can even sound sarcastic in her mind. "I don't love this weird guy here, so just forget it."
Kamen, I sure as hell know you can't perform my mind tricks, and I also didn't ask you that question even though I know I was going to. Are you admitting something…?
"Hell no!" Kamen hissed at me. I dropped the convo until Szayel twined his fingers with her own. "Goddamn, okay, fuck you Mia." The tone her thoughts sent to me were more of a "just kidding" than a "I mean it", but she was still upset. "Did you know we are not allowed to love?"
Ameneko filled me in, so yes.
"So you know. Are you wondering why she did that? It's because it –"
I know, Kamen. And if you're going to love this weird guy here, I'll help you keep it a secret. Okay?
Kamen looked at me and her empty eyes showed thankfulness and that she was grateful for that. It's amazing what you can do for people that make them like this. After Step Brothers was over, I quickly flipped through the other pay-per-view movies.
"What are you looking for?" Harribel asked.
"That one movie, 'The Last Song'!" I yelled, taking up a stance where I was sitting on my knees with one hand holding my front up, and since I was on Nnoitra's lap, my ass was in his face.
"I'm enjoying this," he remarked, "very, very much."
I shoved my tail in his face so it covered his eye. "And now you can enjoy my tail in your eye, love."
Harribel snickered.
"Mia, I'm not watching your damned chick flicks." Grimmjow got up, Ulquiorra followed, and then Harribel walked upstairs yelling about sake.
"I'll stay for a chick flick because it's a good time to make a move during those sappy parts." It seemed his comment was directed at Szayel. Of course it was. But after I found the movie, I nearly fell asleep on the couch until Kamen tapped my shoulder, told me it was ten, and then we all went to bed, leaving those two alone in the dark. And when I came out for water a little later, they were making out on the same couch.
A loud bang on the door the next moment made me rush downstairs in my black tanktop and panties with my hair un-tied up and not brushed and probably ratty. "Open…the…door!" It sounded like a big group.
"Everyone, wake up!" I yelled. It was five in the morning. They'd be pissed, but by the panic rising from outside the door, I could feel something bad going on. I opened the door and The Gang, as well as Ichigo, Rukia, Orihime, Uryu, Chad, and the Vizards, besides Hachi (he wouldn't fit in the door anyhow) burst in.
"Holy shit, Mia, are you throwing a party?" Grimmjow walked downstairs in his Espada garb. Why was it that I was the only one not dressed? The others came downstairs and were dressed. I used Sonido and got upstairs and ready in my usual state, with my hair tied up, and my usual slutty Espada garb, and then I came back down. I'd never had so many in my house before.
"What's going on?" I asked once I sat on the back edge of the couch.
Ichigo scratched his head. "Right. You remember how Aizen died a few years ago?"
"Vividly. Ish. I was blindfolded, but continue."
"He's alive."
If I was drinking something just then, I would have choked on it. "What do you mean?" I shouted over the silence. "I am 1000% positive we all owned his ass! What happened?"
"That's just it," Rukia proceeded. "We didn't take the Hōgyoku out of him and destroy the thing. It must have reincarnated him."
"What are we supposed to do about Karakura?" Neliel asked calmly even though her eyes showed she was freaking out.
Mashiro said, "We need to evacuate them, right?"
I sighed. "I'll do it, then."
"There's no way you can do that, Mia," Itami pushed her way through the huge crowd until she was standing in front of me. "There are hundreds of thousands, maybe almost a million, people in Karakura town. It'd take you hours to get them to safety in time. We don't know if or when he'll attack and we need to do this quickly. And we need you on the front lines."
"Then who is going to get them all to safety? We need to start now!" I grabbed her shoulders and shook her.
Ameneko materialized next to me. "Mia, do you know why Maidaku attacked you that day, months ago?" I shook my head. "It was to train you more. She doesn't actually intend to take you over or anything. But she does want to make you stronger, and she realizes she'll die if you do."
Maidaku and Junsuina followed the materialization. "Dammit, Ameneko, I was having fun acting like I wanted to kick her ass!" Maidaku smirked and looked more friendly than she'd ever looked before.
"This is no time to discuss your acting, Maidaku." Junsuina chided. "And did you also know, Mia, that you have five Resurreccións? Your fourth is a 'step up' from your second but more powerful than your third, and your fifth is a 'step up' from your third and the most powerful. And you may just need them."
I was pretty shocked but now was not the time to show it.
Yoake stepped forward with her dogs trailing behind. "It has been decided that –"
"The Vizards will evacuate them, since we can be seen by the humans," Shinji inturrupted. "But we're going to need help too. But Mia, you must keep a lookout."
I looked from each face of the group in my house. "Alright. I can do that."
Chad mumbled, "We have to also do something else…"
Yin and Yang finished with, "We have to expose the whole of Karakura to what we are and let them all see us. When this is over, we'll explain everything to the humans." It was truly freaky how they could speak at the same time, never missing a beat and using the same tone only with different voice pitches. Yin's was lower than Yang's was.
"So let's…" Yang began.
"…get going!" Yin finished, and everyone filed out the door.
We went to the central point in Karakura where all those public areas were, and I'd figured a lot of people would be at work and this was a good place to scare them shitless. We spread out a little bit and when I felt Itami release her spiritual pressure, I felt a wave of it emitting from everyone else as I Iet out all of mine, and then it was one blob of power. People ran out of offices and wherever else to stare at us.
I felt like I was one of those pole-dancing sluts that everyone wanted to stare at all the time.
A porn star. I felt like a porn star.
It's not a good feeling to have because I don't like the thought or appeal of being famous so much, what with everyone staring at you. Very slowly we started to subdue our spiritual pressure.
"Listen up!" I yelled to the group in front of me. "You've all got to evacuate! There is a safe place outside Karakura, and unfortunately, you've all got to walk there! The streets will be too busy! We don't have much time and all will be explained after it's safe for you to return!" I hoped to God that they'd follow.
"Ma'am, I can't just evacuate these children without their parents knowing!" Oh look, a daycare center. Yay. I get to take care of this.
"It's life or death, and I'm sure their parents would be triple pissed if you didn't listen." I remained calm. Hurry your asses up!
"Let's go!" Tenshi commanded, slashing her taloned hands through the air. "We've got to move, and now! Don't argue!" The group started running, a few looking back with fearful glances.
"Thanks."
"Be more forceful next time. I'll keep scaring people forward. Make sure they don't divert their course." Tenshi turned and walked back down the river of scared humans. She'll just scare people shitless while the Vizards get people out of their homes with half of The Gang and the rest of us scream at people to hurry their asses up. I shook my head. At least the line was moving now.
After fifteen minutes, my portion of the line slowed down. "Let's move!" I yelled, slashing my sword through the air.
A siren blared and then Hiyori appeared beside me. "We found the tornado sirens!" She shouted, then dissapeared as people once again started running wildly around.
A massive spiritual pressure shook the ground and I spread my wings. I couldn't see the end of the human river yet. This was way past bad. The Espada appeared by me on cue.
"I don't have many lives left. Promise me, especially you two," I aimed two fingers at Grimmjow and Nnoitra, "that when it gets tough you'll pull back."
Ulquiorra patted my back. "Try worrying about yourself sometimes. Let's go."
Okay, for being alive again, Aizen looked half decomposed. It was really, really disgusting, especially because he had blood again but when it fell out of holes and rotten scratches it looked dried and black. I fought back the urge to throw up. This was a horror movie all over again.
"Are the Espadas who betrayed me here to help me or kill me again?"
I shot a cero from my tailtip to shut him up. Still an annoying pedophile, apparently.
"Oh, but this time, this is the real Karakura, so you can't go all out…"
"Shut yer trap!" Nnoitra launched his weapon at Aizen; it missed and he brought it back.
And then it was a blur of battle and blood and rotten Aizen parts. Ulquiorra in his second Resurrección, me in my first, and everyone else just in their only one.
"Cascada!" Harribel snarled. Shit! She can't do that without flooding the whole town!
"Freeze over," Below the waterfall I could barely make out Korimizu holding her snowflake staff up. A transparent ice ball rose and surrounded us, and the water gathered at a large lake below before becoming an icy battlefield. "I can only hold this thing for ten minutes. If you can't kill him in that time, at least Karakura will be evacuated." It was amazing I could hear her. Through the transparent ice I could see that her short staff handle had extended and in the center, had a round area spread out so that her hand sat through it. I could see her light blue spiritual pressure feeding the glass snowflake, which instead of half, had become whole with ornamental crystals dangling off the extrusions on the ornamental thing.
I flicked my tail, blasted a bright red cero from my forked tail, which bounced off the ice wall until Neliel absorbed it and shot it at Aizen again. It missed and blasted a hole through the ice, which Korimizu proceeded to fix. I went into my second Resurrección in preparation for my fourth one. Ameneko and Junsuina materialized once I did; I could feel their spirits next to me, and then they backed down the line. I heard a sickening crack and smelled blood, then Neliel screeched in pain. "I've got it," Ameneko mumbled as I pinpointed her location in the sphere and heard her stilletou heels click and skid across the ice.
I sighed. I was interested to see what my fourth Resurrección looked like.
"Dai dākugan'nā," I mumbled as my dress and all the black ornaments around me faded to reveal a gunwoman's cropped jacket, black gloves, black cargo pants (black was Maidaku's set color, obviously), and since the jacket was zipper-less and open, in plain sight was a black bra and most of my cleavage.
Freakin' Maidaku. Now I'm even more of a slut.
"Weapon mode: on!" Maidaku called just as my right arm was enveloped in black fog. When it cleared, my arm looked like a fancy cannon-gun thing. I couldn't bend my elbow, but I could feel the ability to control the gun. "Noise level: 0%. Power: 300%. Range: Ten kilometers." Okay, this was some gun. I raised my arm/gun and tightened my muscles. Red, glowing cero-bullets chased the rotting enemy around the arena. The other Espada had backed up behind me but kept Aizen from leaving my line of sight. I was blasting holes in the already cracking ice. I'd landed quite a few hits on him, but not enough to hinder his movement. Eventually I had to stop firing because the gun had to recharge. The thing wasn't meant for such reckless firing.
Neliel charged Lanzador Verde and launched it across the battlefield; it stuck in the ice before she galloped up to it, yanked it out, and tried to launch the thing again. While Szayel tried to incase Aizen in one of his wings, Junsuina and Ameneko focused on fixing Ulquiorra's damaged wings, and Grimmjow launched yet another Desgarrón in his direction. I had to kneel and rest for a few minutes. I didn't want to leave it in their hands. I didn't want them to get hurt. If anyone was going to die, it should be me.
Nnoitra ran forward to attack the defective, living corpse of our former leader just as Aizen raised his sword for a powerful (decomposing, and no, I can't get my mind off of this) attack. "There is only a minute left," Korimizu sounded exhausted. I didn't notice, but with her shikai activated, her dress had grown longer and her hair was tucked behind what looked like a white snowflake clip. I didn't care if we had a minute left. I ran forward and threw myself between the two. Numb pain entered my body afterwards.
"Mia! Holy fuck, woman!" The ice shield shattered at Nnoitra's words. My gun faded but I remained in my gunner's outfit as I fell over and my vision clouded.
Maidaku materialized next to me and I didn't feel my Resurrección fade. "You two! Get your asses over here!" Junsuina and Ameneko pushed their palms into my wound. Then my clone faded back to wherever the hell she always was.
"Keep fighting!" Itami commanded. "She'll pull through! We got Karakura's citizens away, now just fight! Act like Mia will die if you don't win!" I watched her whip around and saw her hair catch in the sunlight among shards of shattered ice. She took the mace attached by a cuff to her ankle and swung it around at her side. Facing Aizen, she yelled, "Embrace!" The mace surrounded her in a cloud of black and when it exploded in beams all around her, her legs and arms were covered in large, black spikes. She gained some head armor that covered her forehead and had horn-like extrusions sticking out of the metal.
Yudokuna twirled into place next to Itami. "Drip," Another longer green blade slid out from under the first, and then another, until there were three on each side of the handle.
The other Gang members backed up as Kamen pushed them back when Rensuta and her dragons landed together. I sat up weakly to watch. "Surround and suffocate," I flinched. Okay, that was demented. And when I blinked, I saw silver scales covering her body, silver dragon wings emerge from her back under her shawl, and a thick dragon tail lash at the street. Her cloud dagger had only lengthened so it still looked like the wing/cloud things on the side of her panties, but was now a sword.
"Carve," Kamen mumbled, and The Gang spread into the trees but kept watch on the scene. Kamen gripped her sword with both hands as the metal melted around her fingers and hardened to form wrist guards connected to long extensions that went smoothly and sharply over her knuckles to form claw-like extensions that went a foot past her fingertips and were double-bladed. Her tail was also covered in spikes. She smirked as I stood.
If Aizen could beat me in my fourth Resurrección, then I'd have to go into my fifth.
"Amai shiro kama," And so, moral of the story: he was screwed.
After I appeared out of the ashes (yes, I caught fire, WTF, but totally awesome), I was wearing a pure white strapless dress that had incorporated my tube top into the design that covered my breasts. My shoes were silver boots with black laces, and when I opened my wings, they weren't wings. They were scythes that bent and moved like wings.
And suddenly, I felt like kicking ass.
Kamen lunged ahead of me and shoved her claws brutally into Aizen's forehead. Grotesque black, flaky blood followed as she withdrew her claws, delivered a powerful kick to his chest, and backed up. "Good luck, Mia. Nice wings. Use them wisely."
I didn't say anything but flicked my armored tail.
Spikes shot from Itami's arm and imbedded themselves inside of the already rotting body, then exploded his arms right off. New ones grew out of her skin and she winced at the apparent pain. Rensuta opened her mouth; an orange energy fizzled and sparked until a massive fireball lit up in front of her face and she let it fly at Aizen, who jumped out of the way. Ryu flew out and sent it back at our enemy and it hit him with, to say the least, a very colorful explosion. Heat reached my face and I could feel the metal on my back get hotter. Note to self: Avoid Rensuta in this form.
Yudokuna held her scythe so she was close to cutting off Aizen's head. I didn't even see her take a step. One second she was standing near Rensuta, shielding her face from the fire, and the second the bright colors faded, she had hooked the tip of one blade into Aizen's neck. Then she gave her weapon a rough yank and the body fell while black blood and what looked like rotting bone scattered. God, why were The Gang members so powerfully violent? "Mia! Destroy the Hōgyoku, before it re-connects all the parts lying around!"
I really, really, really wanted to throw up. Honestly, that was just nasty. Grotesque. Barf-athon. Anything else? Probably not. I leaned over the dismembered body and saw the shining sphere of the Hōgyoku, raised my metal wings, and shoved the tips into it. It shook. The thing shook my whole body, and I jumped back before it exploded violently and only got some more searing metal-burns and a head wound. Like Ichigo. Ichigo gets head wounds a lot. I shook my head and switched to my normal form.
Don't let the damage be that horrible… I closed my eyes and prayed as I heard the soft buzzing of everyone "becoming normal" again.
"You guys did well." Tenshi smiled and with a sarcastic tone, added, "You know, you did well destroying this section of the town. We'll start leading people back. Shinji should have already explained the whole 'what the hell we all are' thing. You Espada should clean up the rubble and such, and we'll lead people back."